DHAKA, Jan 18, 2026 (BSS) - The Ministry of Commerce has requested the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to suspend the duty-free benefit for the import of certain counts of yarn under the bonded warehouse scheme to protect local textile millers.

In a letter to the revenue board last week, the ministry recommended the cancellation of the bond facility for the import of yarn ranging from 10 to 30 counts to safeguard local textile millers.

The count refers to a measure of yarn thickness in the textile industry, indicating fineness. Yarn ranging from 10 to 30 counts is considered medium to coarse and is widely used in knitwear production.

Earlier, on December 29, the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) urged the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission to request the government to either suspend the bonded warehouse benefit or impose a 20 percent tariff on the import of the widely consumed yarn. 

The BTMA said some mills in the primary textile sector, which has investments of about $25 billion, are facing the risk of closure due to the import of cheap yarn from a neighboring country.

The interim government has been weighing on a range of policy options - including tighter import controls, curbs on duty-free yarn imports and incentives to encourage the use of locally produced yarn - to protect domestic spinning mills from a surge in imported yarn, particularly subsidised supplies from a neighboring country.